Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/36

Man's celestial proprium is formed in the effort or tendency of his thought; and if he does not obtain it by compelling himself, as it appears, he never will obtain it by not compelling himself.

For the better understanding of how this is, it may be expedient to observe, that in all self-compulsion to good there is a certain freedom, which is not so plainly perceivable during the act of compulsion, but still it is within. Thus, in the case of a person who willingly subjects himself to the hazard of losing life with a view to some end, or who willingly undergoes a painful operation for the recovery of his health, there is a principle of willingness, and consequently of liberty, in so doing, by virtue whereof he acts, although the hazards and the pains while he is in them, take away the perception of such willingness or freedom.

The case is the same with those who compel themselves to good. There is within a principle of willingness, consequently of freedom, by virtue of which and for the sake of which they compel themselves, viz.: there is the motive of obedience to those things which the Lord has commanded, and the motive of obtaining the salvation of their souls after death; in which there is a more inward motive still, though the man is ignorant of it, viz., that of regard to the Lord's kingdom, yea, to the Lord himself.

This is more especially the case in temptations, in which, while a man compels himself to resist the evil and falsity which are infused and suggested by wicked